C-SPAN's Brian Lamb Addresses Students
Heather Steele
Issue date: 10/17/06 Section: News
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Lamb launched C-SPAN, which stands for the Cable Satellite Public Access Network, in 1979. C-SPAN is a non-profit organization and only has 255 employees, which, Lamb explained, is significantly lower than other cable news organizations. C-SPAN operates three television stations, several websites, and a radio station, yet contains no advertisements and does not receive government funding. Cable systems pay license fees to C-SPAN and in return the systems may offer C-SPAN channels to their cable customers. According to Lamb, C-SPAN generates operating revenues of nearly fifty million dollars each year.
"Our Goal," Lamb said of C-SPAN, "is to offer anyone in the country, who has cable or satellite, [the opportunity] to watch the political process as it happens, without comment, so you can make up your own mind."
Thirty million citizens watch C-SPAN on a regular basis, which, Lamb said is about ten percent of the United States population. C-SPAN, which, among other things, offers live "gavel to gavel" coverage of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, is open to offering live coverage of Supreme Court oral arguments. Lamb, who noted that he thought C-SPAN would have been allowed to begin covering oral arguments years ago, believes live Supreme Court coverage will be offered one day.
Lamb said that while he is often recognized in public, people sometimes confuse him with other famous individuals, including John Glenn and J. Edgar Hoover. Lamb delighted the crowd when he noted that his favorite encounter was when a man approached him and asked if he was on television. When Lamb replied in the affirmative, the man said, "You put me to sleep."
Students enjoyed learning more about C-SPAN, and explained that they never quite understood how C-SPAN operated before hearing first hand from Lamb. Lamb provided a good understanding of the C-SPAN organization and the issues it faces.
Lamb also addressed the law school last year, and he was a guest lecturer for the Communications Law and Policy Seminar taught by Professors Lisa Sockett and Tom Whitehead. Lamb worked for Whitehead in the Office of Communications Policy during the Nixon administration.